Need some advice & a favor...plz!

[Sonny]

I have a last minute photo shoot this Wednesday afternoon. The coach of an 8 yr old girls Allstar Softball Team called me to shoot their team & individual photos. I've shot action photography but not team & individual photos. There will be approximately 11-15 girls in the team photo. Time of day will be 5:30pm at Collins Park off of Cypresswood Drive. If the rain holds out I'm guessing the lighting conditions will be cloudy at best.

Whew! OK now on to equipment. I'm shooting with my 20d and my available lens are:

• 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
• 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
• 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
• Manfrotto Monopod with Swivel Tilt Head
• Speedlite 420EX
• Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3

If I'm going to shoot a team photo, should I be using a wider lens?

Now on to the questions:

1. How should I setup my camera? (TV, AV, or Manual?)
2. What ISO, apeture and shutterspeed?
3. What AF point should I select? And where do I focus that AF point?
4. Do I need to use 420EX flash?
5. Custom White Balance?
6. At what distance should my camera setup be from the girls?

Does any photog that lives in NW Houston have a wide lens, grey card, and a light meter I may borrow? I live near Champions Forest Drive and FM 1960. I will owe you a big favor!!!

Needless to say I'm really nervous about this shoot. Two of the parents on this team have purchased a HUGE amount of action photos and I do not want to let them down. With that being said, I would appreciate any help my fellow photogs can offer to me.

Thanks,
Sonny

[Wendy]

How funny. It just so happens I'll be at Collins Park at 5:00 PM on Wednesday for my kids' soccer training. I'd be happy to lend a hand with the shoot, if you'd like. PM me.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Sonny think about how you will have the girls lined up first. If you have them all shoulder to shoulder you have a line aprox 30-35 ft wide so you would need a wide angle and be back from them a bit-then crop out the top and bottom to give it a panoramic look.
If you have them in a 5-4-3 grouping (5 standing-4 setting on chairs/kneeling-3 setting on the ground) your widest point will be about 12 ft but then your depth of field that needs to be in focus will be about 4 ft or so. Or you can have them in a straight line up but splaid out from the center (each one angled in going from a center point) and that would cut the group down to being about 20 ft wide.) http://www.la.mvla.net/Athletic/Team...ball/1986V.jpg
Here is a link to some sports team shots I found on line http://www.la.mvla.net/Athletic/Team...GirlsSoftball/ The pics are not the best but it gives you an idea.

Your lenses should cover any set up that you face and since you don't have to worry about being in a small room remember that you CAN BACK UP to get them all to fit!

[gardener]

I did individual and team pics for my grandson's team about a month ago and one thing I'd like to offer is that you need to take several pics of every pose, even if they all look the same in the end. I took at least 3 and sometimes 4 of each individual player just to make sure I got at least one pic of each kid with BOTH eyes open. While pros might have an easier time of it than I did just because they're used to such, I did manage to come out with at least one pic of each kid and one good team pic with everyone's eyes open AT THE SAME TIME!
I went through the shots afterwards and deleted all but the eyes open and smiling at the same time pics and it worked out well for all concerned.
As a small bonus for the kids after the full team shot, we also took a couple of shots of the entire group making funny faces after the "keeper" shots were completed.
Good luck on your shoot Sonny, I had fun doing my grandson's team pics and will do it again if they ask. No money changed hands but the parent's gratitude was worth it...
Oh... and I used my 85mm 1.8 Canon for individuals and changed to the 17-40 f/4 for the wider team shot.

[Sonny]

WOW..three responses and I got one offer of help and a load of helpful information.

I was able to borrow an 85mm f/1.8 for the individual shots& a 16-35mm f/2.8 for the group photo!

Thank you guys and Wendy soooooooo much!

[Allen]

This article may give you some pointers and ideas too:

http://digital-photography-school.co...-group-photos/

[Wendy]

I'll see you there tomorrow. I'll bring all of my stuff too, just in case it's needed. It sounds like you have it covered with the lenses, though. I was going to offer my 50 1.8 and 28-75 2.8, but it sounds like the ones you're already borrowing will work out better. I'll see if I can find my gray card if you want. I haven't actually used it since I shot film though and don't know if it still exists and what condition it might be in.

[CaptainTom]

Good luck with the shoot. It sounds like you have everything covered.
You might try to play with A-DEP a little. It can give you exactly the DOF you need for a particular shot. It's probably best to not experiment on and important shoot, but you could check the manual out and it might help a little.

[Sonny]

Thank you helping me yesterday, Wendy!

Please let me know what day I can return your reflector.